Trouble logging in?We were forced to invalidate all account passwords. You will have to reset your password to login. If you have trouble resetting your password, please send us a message with as much helpful information as possible, such as your username and any email addresses you may have used to register. Whatever you do, please do not create a new account. That is not the right solution, and it is against our forum rules to own multiple accounts.

Though not exactly on topic, today I stumbled across an interesting discussion on the low status of light novels in Japan and the differences between normal literature and light novels. There is also a scholarly essay quoted (just replace 通俗小説 with ライトノベル ) and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the issue.

As interesting as the subject may be, that essay is just too dense and filled with complicated words for me to read through without exerting a week's effort.

Either way, I'd agree that light novels are more for entertainment than enlightenment.

Either way, I'd agree that light novels are more for entertainment than enlightenment.

Indeed. It is certainly good to have some sort of enlightenment once a while, but only saints can survive solely on enlightenment.

Novels from the new MW Bunko are now available in the Japanese bookshops. It seems like most of the attention has gone to シアター！, the latest work by Hiro Arikawa, a famous writer and a successful "graduate" of the light novel scene.

Too bad for the Dengeki award-winners of this year who are totally overshadowed by the big names (cf the PR campaign Kadokawa did for Dark Sugar & Matsudai Made). Somehow I feel that they would have had received better treatment if their new works were published under the conventional Dengeki label instead.

The シアター！ tower made me LOL. Book shop assisants these days really have too much time on their hands . On the other hand I can only see one copy of the new novels by the Dengeki award winners...

Btw besides シアター！, I am pretty interested in ［映］アムリタ . The writer was born in Thailand and is now 60+ years old. Apparently it is never too old for your light novel debut. Maybe if I start brushing up my Japanese writing skills now I may be able to get a light novel published after 40 years.

(It is not shown in the bookshop photo above so I attached an image here...)

EDIT: A quote from 新文化出版界業紙 on MW Bunko. 200k copies printed for シアター！, and 50k copies for each of the other titles.

Congrats ! Mine arrived like two weeks ago, but I have to wait for another week when exams end before start enjoying it.

Quote:

Edit: 200k prints sounds insane.

The Japanese publishing industry has a habit of inflating numbers, so I'll take the exact figure with a grain of salt. But the proportional difference (4x) between the so-called 200k dedicated to シアター！ and the so-called 50k for the relatively "normal" titles is a good indicator in itself on the strength of the former.

You might recognize the art, as he's also the illustrator for the light novel series Ore no Imouto... and an animator for Bones.

Just checked his entry in the Niconico encyclopedia. It seems like he is not only a professional animator, art director, light novel illustrator, but is also a famous artiste in Trance music . A real case of プロの犯行 for a guy like him to make amateur Miku MVs.

On light novels news, Kinetic Novels, a visual novel label famous for Planetarian and Polyphonica, has started a new award for writers, illustartors and music artistes. The light novel part of the whole thing is that the award winner will have his work published by Ichijinsha / GA bunko. 5 million yen cash award + royalty from novel + royalty from game... a really generous and attractive package for aspiring writers.

Btw I really hope that they will release the original Planetarian story as a light novel (the currently published one is a spin off). I really love the story, and hope to keep it in a more durable format rather than some OS-specific program that may not be readable after 10 years.

Toplists for last week's sales are out, and Theater didn't sell more than 20 000 copies, meaning 10% of the printed number? None of the other titles even made the list. Oh well!

General literature has a selling span much longer than light novels. Light novel can attract high sales figure within a extremely short time upon published, by viral marketing, 2ch memes and etc. Veteran readers also tend to be loyal to their favourite label/author and simply buy everything as soon as they are released.

On the other hand, general literature relies on word-of-mouth and recommendations by prominent reviewers to boost sales. As a result potential readers are much more prudent in terms of their buying behaviour. A majority of the first 20k sales is probably by Dengeki followers anyway. I think a good point of time to check its performance among the general reading public is probably after three months: after the book get reviewed extensively in various literature magazines and scrutinized by hardcore literature buffs, and the public has the time to absorb all the information and make educated buying decisions.

But then however a good story Theatre is, from the very start I have never believed that they have 200k printed for it.

It took three weeks, but I've finally gotten through all the 281 pages of Sugar Dark. That probably makes it the slowest book I've read in three years. The plot just moves so sluggishly that I couldn't read more than 10 pages in a row before losing interest and deciding to do something else. In short, it's a boring novel. It's also overly complicated with ten times more words than is necessary to relate what's going on; an entire page can be spent explaining how the protagonist walks up to a tree. Ignoring the prose, the characters aren't that exciting either. The main character is a 16-year-old and feels (to me at 28) very juvenile, particularly when it comes to his romantic feelings. It's ... understandable, but not interesting to read about. The heroine is flat, and best described as the retarded moe kitten-type. Not much new on that side. Not entirely sure what the antagonists are supposed to be, but they mainly come across as faceless monsters, which is as dull as it gets. Disappointing.

Oh I planned to start reading Sugar Dark after finishing the series of Dragon Party(must-read for android girl fans btw ). I thought the reviews of Sugar Dark are pretty positive and am looking forward to reading it. I guess I should better lower my expectation to avoid disappointment.

As for the rumoured anime adaptation, the head of Kadokawa only mentioned in the Sneaker Award ceremony that he is interested in making one. But beyond that there is nothing fixed yet.

Well, everyone has different taste, so who knows, maybe it'll suit you. I think the setting was pleasantly dreary, as is proper for the mood, and the idea of a grave digger was sort of interesting. It's just everything else that's dull.

Don't know if this is the right place for posting something like this, but...
Does anybody know a site or something where you can get information on new light novel releases in English?
I always only accidently discover that some light novels like "Spice and Wolf" are released in English - and therefore usually late.

Don't know if this is the right place for posting something like this, but...
Does anybody know a site or something where you can get information on new light novel releases in English?
I always only accidently discover that some light novels like "Spice and Wolf" are released in English - and therefore usually late.

This is definitely a good place to ask and I definitely do not know the answer . Quite curious about this for myself actually.

Well then, let me ask this the other way around.
I already own the first two volumes of both "Shinigami's Ballad" and "Shakugan no Shana". Just recently, I also bought the first volume of "Spice & Wolf".

Well then, let me ask this the other way around.
I already own the first two volumes of both "Shinigami's Ballad" and "Shakugan no Shana". Just recently, I also bought the first volume of "Spice & Wolf".

Are there any other (english) light novels you would recommend?

Sadly, I think the current posters here don't read much English translated ones, but I suggest getting Zaregoto. To be honest, I don't even know which ones are available in English.

On a totally unrelated note, has anyone read 9s? I find myself desperately hoping for an anime adaptation of this.

Since the diversity in terms of content/genre of light novels is as great as anime, without knowing your specific tastes/interests, it is a bit difficult to pinpoint a good novel that you will enjoy with absolute certainty.

But as a general recommendation, I would advise you to check out the works of Otsuichi and Nishio Ishin. They are pretty decent writers and a number of their works are already translated into English. (No guarantee on the translation quality though as I have never read the English versions.)

Unlike most light novels, the popularity of their works extends well beyond the otaku crowd. Otsuichi is well acclaimed for both his dark horror stories and fine delicate tales on humanity (movie adaptations: Zoo, Goth, etc). While Nishio is the most famous for his clever use of wordplays and parodies (anime adaptations: Bakemonogatari, Katanagatari). Novel lovers in general would most likely enjoy their works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuopidget

On a totally unrelated note, has anyone read 9s? I find myself desperately hoping for an anime adaptation of this.

I haven't read it but it sounds interesting. How about post a brief review of it here? I may get it in my next batch of orders.

On a sidenote, I have just read 機巧少女が傷つかない, by 海冬レイジ published under the MF Bunko J novel label. Besides the pretty decently made official website, an image song CD (official PV) was released within one month after the novel had been published (quite rare for a newly published story by a non-mainstream writer). Maybe we can see the anime and manga adaptation pretty soon.

Back to the story, the setting reminds me of Hogwarts in Harry Potter (with maybe a little bit more guro), but the magic that the students use is slightly different involving mechanic dolls. The story is nothing ground breaking, but is still very enjoyable. The chemistry between the two main characters, Raishin (a Japanese student, good at magic but can't read English) and Yaya (a mechanical doll and Raishin's partner/interpretor), are particularly good. I very much enjoy the way Yaya teases Raishin for his love, and getting all worked up and even into karanabe mode whenever Raishin talks to another girl, despite it is totally obvious that Raishin is only interested in real, mature girls. On top of that, Seeing a make lead with a spine and real GAR moments is also a nice break after watching oh-so-many pathetic and spineless males in anime. I very much look forward to volume 2. (Shameless plug: full review @ my blog)